Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Decreases Holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. lessened its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 17.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,175 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 1,125 shares during the period. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $392,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 14,938 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,497 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,098 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,596,000 after acquiring an additional 7,666 shares during the period. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 532.3% in the fourth quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC now owns 20,669 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after acquiring an additional 17,400 shares during the period. Finally, Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,939 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NIKE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.62.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $76.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $113.15 billion, a PE ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.09. NIKE, Inc. has a one year low of $68.62 and a one year high of $106.62.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. NIKE’s payout ratio is 49.38%.

About NIKE

NIKE, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and sells athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services worldwide. The company provides athletic and casual footwear, apparel, and accessories under the Jumpman trademark; and casual sneakers, apparel, and accessories under the Converse, Chuck Taylor, All Star, One Star, Star Chevron, and Jack Purcell trademarks.